Foundation auctioning rare Hemingway autograph

A wine card signed by author Ernest Hemingway in 1933 will be auctioned at an upcoming Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park fundraiser. (Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, Handout)

Ernest Hemingway didn't go on many book tours. Consequently, autographs like the one being auctioned at an upcoming Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park fundraiser are relatively rare, said Allison Sansone, the foundation's director.

While he signed few books, the author did put his name on a number of drink receipts, Sansone said. At an upcoming "Cocktails With Hemingway" event, the foundation plans to sell a wine card Hemingway signed on a boat trip from Havana to Spain in 1933.

A donor recently gave the foundation about 20 cards from the same six-day trip, Sansone said. Some were for sodas, she noted.

Hemingway, who was something of a pack rat, kept all of the wine cards and gave them to the person who donated them to the museum, she said. The museum would not disclose the donor's identity.

The museum set the card in a frame with photos from the trip, and will auction it at the cocktail fundraiser on Sept. 29 at Emilio's Tapas in Hillside. All the auction items are Hemingway-related, including a bottle of rum made by a Hemingway-themed distillery and signed by the author's son, Patrick; a hardback collection of his writings; a catered dinner in his Oak Park home; a salmon fishing trip and other items.

The last fundraiser the museum held was a wine auction in 2010, Sansone said.